Arrow "Unfinished Business": Friends Like These

How exactly do I exactly start off about this week's episode of Arrow, Unfinished Business? In short I think it was a match between Diggle and Tommy to see who had Oliver's back more. Think about it, Oliver had an issue with both of them and only one remained after everything was done with. Sure throwing on the Count on the top with a possible vertigo break out seems to be interesting enough. Right? This week's flashbacks were pretty cool too as we finally some the duo grow to a trio and Oliver slapping some.................water. What did you think I was going to say? I mean it's perfectly natural for him to be slapping water right? Anyways, Unfinished Business really felt like a filler this week for Arrow as nothing kinda really happened. As with all fillers, they are the stepping stone for the truly great episodes.

So Unfinished Business kicked off with the death of a girl who was high on vertigo and was last seen at Oliver's club. So Quentin comes to the club following on the lead and basically informing Oliver that vertigo is back. Angry that vertigo is out there again, Oliver dons the hood and goes to see the Count, who is locked up in a mental hospital. Oliver doesn't get much out of the Count, due to him being crazy, so it's Diggle's turn to do a bit of digging and goes undercover to buy some vertigo and plant a tracker on the dealer. Love how Arrow took the opportunity to poke fun at the stereotype ("Person of color has successfully purchased your drug."). Anyways, Oliver follows the dealer, but is unable to get the man behind it all. As they search for the Count, Oliver gets increasingly frustrated with everything, snaps at both Tommy and Diggle. Tommy even has his own beef with Oliver for thinking that he would deal drugs out of the club. To make matters worse, Quentin believes this too and discovers ten grand missing from the club, causing him to further investigate the club.

Now the good qualities of Unfinished Business. There is the obvious use of the relationships as Unfinished Business put them to the test. With Oliver and Diggle, there was the whole Deadshot thing and Diggle not having Oliver's back that one time. Diggle eventually redeemed himself. Then there was Oliver and Tommy and the whole you could be dealing drugs and you kill people thing. There has been obvious tension between the two of them, and Arrow finally dealt with that. I would like to think that this little conversation had influenced Oliver's actions later that evening as the Hood when he came face to face with the Count. There was some progression with Quentin and Laurel, as Quentin desperately wished to make his relationship with his daughter work, that he was willing to back off investigating Tommy's club. It didn't stop him though. There was the usual progression in the flashbacks as Shado joins the duo and teaches Oliver to slap some water. I'm not kidding, but there was a purpose as we saw a progression to the bow. It was also very entertaining to see Slade so excited to have a decent sparing partner for once.

Now fillers come with their down sides and Unfinished Business had a few of thoses. First and foremost, I think we all knew from the beginning that the orderly was involved from the moment the shot lingered on him too long. So we knew that the mental hospital was involved, and the icing on the cake was when Felicity revealed some meds to be inside the vertigo. So basically the Count was a red herring. It was also amazing how fast Quentin got to the conclusion that Oliver's club was the source of this evil, and was very narrow minded about it. There are other nightclubs out there in addition to probably a much of other drug dealers elsewhere. It was also very random of Oliver to think that Tommy was dealing drugs in his club. If you thought Tommy was going to do it in the first place, why hire him (you know, other than helping a friend out)?

So now that we're done with Unfinished Business, (see what I did there) I hope the next episode of Arrow will be a bit more, well, eventful. I really did like the whole Shado getting Oliver ready for the box thing, and I'm looking forward to seeing that journey play out. Also cool learning a bit more about Yao Fei. I do have to admit though, Tommy did get a change in his character by the end of the episode as he turned to his SPOILER for a job. Although I love how Tommy covered for SPOILER by filling the SPOILER with SPOILERS. Arrow is on hiatus again, and won't return until April 24th. See you all then.

What was your favorite moment of the episode? Did you also suspect the mental hospital as the vertigo source?